“GT” Insight Bites: Diverse perspectives on visitor dispersion

Will visitors simply go where the wind blows, like dandelion seeds? Image by akirEVarga (CC0) via Pixabay.

An oft-cited antidote to overtourism, and a means to spread the benefits of tourism more widely, is ‘visitor dispersion’.

What are the biggest challenges to encouraging and incentivising tourists to explore more of a destination?

Who or what do you think could contribute most to effective visitor dispersion?

What can an organisation like yours do to encourage and incentivise dispersion?

For this “Insight bites”, your correspondent put the proposition and questions above to a range of travel & tourism stakeholders, and invited written responses of up to 300 words.

Thanks very much to all who responded. Their replies appear in order of receipt. Click/touch a name to go straight to their answer:

• Chris Flynn — First prepare traveller dispersal points
• Thomas Bauer — City sights will remain priorities for first-time visitors
• Lauren Uğur — Local ambassador programs may help disperse visitors
• Jonathon Day — Questioning the common wisdom about dispersion
• Ben Lynam — Visitor dispersion may not be right for all destinations
• Catherine Germier-Hamel — Distributed discovery centres may help
• Kevin Phun — Spreading people out needs serious, creative consideration
• K Michael Haywood — Not enough is known about visitor motivations
• Aayusha Prasain — Dispersing travellers in Nepal
• Tim Russell — Preconceptions, infrastructure pose challenges
• John Roberts — Safety, comfort concerns for time-poor visitors
• Karen Simmonds — Meaningful consultations begin with anyone selling
• Graham Harper — Determine correct carrying capacity
• Willem Niemeijer — Private sector, NGO, government collaboration